Social Services Consortium,
The budget had ground to a halt when negotiations soured between House and Senate members but it is looking like someone pulled out the WD-40 and the squeaky wheel is moving again! House and Senate budget members have come to an agreement on two sticky areas: education spending and justice & public safety. They are also back in talks about the cigarette tax and it looks like the minimum wage could see an increase. Yesterday the Senate finally agreed with the House position to NOT to cut Medicaid to 65,000 blind, elderly and disabled adults but it took quite a fight to get to that decision.
Rumor has it, that with light at the end of the tunnel, both Basnight and Black are pushing to have the budget completed by August 5 th (deadline of last budget extension) to avoid having to pass another continuing resolution to keep state government running. If the budget passes next week they will probably wrap up by the following week to give time to shuffle through any unfinished bills.
I've attached two articles below that provided some additional information about the budget status.
Thanks,
Karen
BUDGET BLUES :
Legislative leaders pushed toward more agreements on
spending items in the state budget while setting aside disagreements
over cigarette taxes and overall spending levels. Senate leader Marc
Basnight , D-Dare, and House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, refused
to criticize Gov. Mike Easley for his insistence that spending fall
under a voluntary spending cap, but some rank-and-file legislators
privately grumbled that the governor is hurting public schools and
limiting state employee pay raises. Easley's spending cap proposal
would limit budget growth to the average annual growth in statewide
personal income over a 10-year period, which would be 5.9 percent for
this year. As he has previously, Black said he was trying to work out a
deal in which legislators could satisfy the governor by putting some
money toward one-time spending items that wouldn't count toward the
cap. Rep. Jim Crawford, D-Granville, a co-chair of the House
Appropriations Committee, said budget negotiators have agreed to
spending levels in education, along with most items in the justice and
public safety, and natural resources areas of the budget. Crawford said
the Department of Health and Human Services budget still requires a lot
of work. While the pace of budget negotiations picked up, speculation
increased that the House and Senate might ultimately split the
difference between their respective 25- and 35-cents-a-pack cigarette
tax hike plans. Crawford said no decision has been made, but didn't
rule it out as a possibility. Basnight , meanwhile, said he hopes the
legislature will take up supplemental tax legislation that will apply
in future years. "We're going to have a tax bill. I can't tell you at
this time what the tax bill will be," he said. However, Basnight said
reductions in corporate taxes and the highest personal income tax
bracket advocated by the Senate are needed to improve the state's
economic climate. He did not say whether the legislation would include
any tax hikes to offset cuts. Black, though, questioned whether the
House could pass separate tax legislation. (THE INSIDER, 07/27/05 ).
HOUSE WINS MEDICAID ROUND:
Some 65,000 elderly or disabled people who
were at risk of losing Medicaid coverage under a Senate budget proposal
will stay on the rolls, state budget negotiators agreed. The Senate had
pushed for the cut as a long-term strategy to reduce prescription-drug
costs. The House bill did not reduce health services, and the
disagreement has been a major sticking point in budget negotiations for
the fiscal year that began July 1. "We were just quite adamant that we
were going to keep it there," said Rep. Beverly Earle , D-Mecklenburg, a
House Appropriations co-chair. Legislators working behind closed doors
on a budget compromise agreed to study ways to cut Medicaid growth.
Costs are increasing about 12 percent a year, outstripping revenue
increases and contributing substantially to state budget growth. The
study will be a special provision in the budget bill. Sen. Kay Hagan,
D-Guilford, a co-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the
state needs ideas for holding down Medicaid expenses to ensure enough
funds for patients in need. (Lynn Bonner, THE NEWS & OBSERVER ,
07 /27/05 ).
